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Located in the heart of New York, BAE has five spacious, air-conditioned studios with sprung floors, mirrors, sound systems, and pianos, which are available for rental. The versatile spaces at BAE are ideal for your next reception, fundraiser, corporate event, meeting, private party, photo shoot, or rehearsal.

Lauren and William Wolfram: Performing as a Family

January 15, 2018

Lauren Wolfram, BAE graduate and current Carolina Ballet dancer, had the opportunity to perform with her father, renowned pianist William Wolfram. Lauren and William (Bill) each shared about what the collaboration meant to them. Please read on to learn about the unique and wonderful experience of blending art with family.

Lauren:

Performing with my dad was definitely something I dreamed about, but never imagined would really happen. It was such an exciting experience both rehearsing and performing with him. I have to admit that I couldn’t resist taking advantage of the situation, and asked for very specific tempos for my sections of the piece! During the performances, I was so focused on my dancing that I wasn’t thinking about the fact that my dad was the one playing. However, there was a moment at the end of my solo where I was lying on the floor and I suddenly lifted my head up. Because I was on the floor, the first thing I would see when I looked up was my dad at the piano. It was almost funny to see him so close, but also incredible to realize that the audience was watching something we were creating together. Unsurprisingly, my dad also became fast friends with many dancers, the backstage crew, and the entire costume department.

Bill:

When Lauren and I recently performed in Robert Weiss's "Dialogues" with Carolina Ballet, it was indeed a dream come true. The thought of Lauren dancing with music provided by me on piano was a daydream that I had indulged in for years. But of course, reminiscing about a performance is the fun part - at the time, logistical realities and worries take over. In the Rachmaninoff Variations that I was playing, I usually started a variation, setting the tempo for the dancers. Since this was a live performance and not a recording, a tempo too slow or too fast can obviously cause big problems for the dancers on stage. In one variation, Lauren runs to the center of the stage and waits for the music to begin. I was always worried that she would tell me afterwards that I had played an impossible tempo and had ruined her entire variation! (It didn’t happen.) Ironically, other than seeing Lauren momentarily before starting to play, I was the ONLY person in the theater who couldn't watch her because I needed to look at my music the whole time! I did see a video afterwards, thankfully. It was an amazing opportunity, and I really hope it can happen again!!

Elizabeth Portnoy

Adult Division Faculty

Elizabeth Portnoy trained at Ballet Academy East, LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, and Studio Maestro. Elizabeth has performed with Dances Patrelle, New York Theater Ballet, K.M/D.M, and Dramastics. She taught in the Young Dancer Division at BAE for 10 years. She graduated from Hunter College with a Masters in Dance Education. Elizabeth has been teaching barre fitness since 2015. She teaches at Equinox Gym and is CPR certified.

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Janice Kelly

Adult Division Faculty

Janice Kelly is a 200-hour RYT through Pure Yoga in NYC and has over 10 years of yoga training and experience. She first took a Bikram yoga class to supplement her ballet training, and soon realized her yoga practice was going to be much more. She found the meditation exercises that helped her into challenging poses were just as empowering and effective in conquering the challenges of everyday life.

Janice honors the integrity of traditional yoga teachings while making them practical in today’s world. Her class is centered around the vinyasa technique of breath and fluidity between poses. She teaches yoga for inner peace, strength, joy, a quiet mind, and the highest self.

Before teaching yoga, Janice worked as a technology investment analyst at a hedge fund, as well as a professional Broadway and ballet dancer. Janice is also the founder of ShapeDate, which currently provides a full list of dance class schedules, studios, and instructors in NYC.

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Katie Dettling

Adult Division Faculty

A fully certified STOTT PILATES® instructor, Katie began her fitness journey over 20 years ago as a teenage dance student, practicing pilates to enhance performance and recover from injury. As a member of The Washington Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, Dayton Ballet, Dances Patrelle, and more, Katie was exposed to a wide variety of movement methodologies. Ultimately, a growing curiosity to integrate these drew Katie to study kinesiology. She completed over 450 hours instructor training with Merrithew™ Health & Fitness, plus various other specialty certifications (see below). Katie is also Co-Founder of Fit-Arts LLC with her husband. She is passionate about combining artistic perspective with cutting-edge exercise science to help clients achieve goals in a healthy and uplifting environment.

Olga Bazilevskaya

Accompanist

A graduate of Moscow Conservatory College (Russia), Ms. Bazilevskaya was the musical director of Ballet Hispanico for seven years, as well as Gelsey Kirkland Ballet for six years. For over twenty years she has worked as an accompanist with professional dance companies such as Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, American Ballet Theater, SAB, Juilliard School, Les Ballets Trockadero, Ellison Ballet, Steps, and Ballet Academy East. Olga also is an accomplished piano teacher and has developed a unique music workshop for dancers.

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Roni Mahler

Adult Division Faculty, Guest

Roni Mahler is a former ballerina who was trained by the renowned Madame Maria Yurieva Swoboda. Ms. Mahler performed principal roles with American Ballet Theatre and the National Ballet of Washington (D.C.), after beginning her career in her teens with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo. For over three decades, Roni was the Artistic Associate of Dennis Nahat’s internationally-acclaimed Ballet San Jose in California, where she taught, coached, and performed “character” roles. A native of New York City, Ms. Mahler’s teaching credits include Ballet Academy East, The Alvin Ailey School, The Juilliard School, The Joffrey School, Ballet Tech, and School of Dennis Nahat’s Ballet San Jose. Roni is a former tenured Assistant Professor and director of Dance at Kansas State University, where she initiated the KSU Dance degree program. Kansas State has since honored her with the Roni Mahler Ballet Studio and, for fifteen years, presented an annual award in her name.

Roni choreographed for Cynthia Gregory and Fernando Bujones during their City Center season in New York, and created “Ballet Movement for the Athlete,” a fitness program she customized for the Cleveland Browns. Her 6-DVD collection “The Complete Guide To Teaching Ballet” enables dance teachers to explore training methods for all ages. A certified Pilates instructor, Roni is the author of numerous ballet class CDs and a stretching DVD for flexibility and range of motion. Each year, Ms. Mahler is invited by the prestigious Rancho La Puerta Spa in Tecate, Mexico, to return as a Specialty Presenter for its Ballet Week.

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Grant Dettling

Adult Division Faculty

After studying at Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the School of American Ballet, Grant recently concluded a 20-year career as a professional ballet dancer. He was fortunate to be a member with companies like the Washington Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, Dayton Ballet, and Dances Patrelle. Years of cross training and pursuing physical excellence inspired Grant to help others achieve their fitness/health goals. Mentored by Elisabeth Halfpapp & Fred Devito, co-founders of the Core Fusion Barre method, Grant became a certified barre teacher for Exhale. He is also a M.E.L.T. Method Hand and Foot Touchless Massage Instructor, and co-founder of Fit-Arts LLC with his wife Katie. He’s passionate about exercise that fits into the demands of modern life, is safe and effective, and would love to help you reach your potential!

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Ben Delony

Adult Division Faculty

A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Ben Delony began his dance
training with Madalyn Montegudo and Marianne Hebert, Baton Rouge
Ballet Theater, and summer intensives at Ballet Austin and Hubbard
Street Dance Chicago before matriculating through the ballet
department at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Upon
graduating with a performance bachelors degree, he had danced
numerous featured roles in works ranging from Agnes DeMille to
Twyla Tharp, George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton and Joshua
Bergasse. He spent seasons with Ballet Memphis and Ballet Nouveau
Colorado before becoming a freelance artist, and maintains a strong
connection with Houston Grand Opera where has been a regular
dancer since 2013. Regional theater credits include the Arvada Center
Theater, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Central City Opera, and
Boston Early Music Festival. He lives in New York City, where he is a
dancer at the Metropolitan Opera and a multi-disciplinary dance
instructor. A proud member of both Actors’ Equity and the American
Guild of Musical Artists.

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Jamie Salmon

Adult Division Faculty

Jamie Salmon has over 35 years of experience as a professional dancer and educator. Her training began with Melissa Hayden, Dana Kennedy Paul Mejia, Juan Anduze, and continued at North Carolina School of the Arts, School of American Ballet (sponsored and mentored by Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon), Joffrey Ballet NYC, and with Finis Jung and David Howard. Jamie’s performing career has included Joffrey Ballet Concert Group and extensive industrials, regional theater, commercials, and film.

Jamie’s class is dedicated to the physical, mental and artistic development of the dancer, whether novice or professional. Jamie shares her passion for ballet with her students in a positive and nurturing environment, emphasizing clean technique, proper alignment, kinesthetic awareness and musicality, while using imagery and hands-on physical corrections throughout the class.

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Benjamin Houghton

Accompanist

Benjamin Houghton has been a pianist at BAE since 2010. He graduated from Westminster Choir College. In addition to being a pianist, he is also a dancer, singer, and actor.

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Elizabeth Walker

Adult Division Faculty

Elizabeth Walker’s ballet training began in South Carolina with Don and Patricia Cantwell in Charleston, S.C. and continued with Ann Brodie in Columbia, S.C. Following two summer courses at the School of American Ballet in New York, Elizabeth was invited to stay for full time study on scholarship at the age of 15. She received a Princess Grace Foundation-USA Award Dance Scholarship and Nancy Davis Reagan Award in 1988, and a scholarship in the name of Alexandra Danilova and the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise in 1990.

At the age of sixteen, Elizabeth was invited by Suki Schorer and Merrill Ashley to take part as a demonstrator in “Balanchine Essays,” a video series cataloguing Balanchine technique produced by the George Balanchine Trust. Elizabeth was offered an apprenticeship with the New York City Ballet in 1990 and joined the corps de ballet in 1991. Among the dozens of roles she danced, many were featured or principal roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Peter Martins, Jerome Robbins, Lynn Taylor Corbett, and David Parsons.

In June 2009, Elizabeth retired from performing after 19 years with NYCB. Elizabeth taught on the faculty of the School of American Ballet, the official school of NYCB, from 2001-2007. Since 2009, Elizabeth has served as senior faculty at the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) School of Ballet. Elizabeth joined the faculty at Ballet Academy East in 2007, teaching for the Pre-Professional Division and adult open classes.

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Juan Carlos Peñuela

Adult Division Faculty, Guest

A native of Cali, Colombia, Juan Carlos Peñuela began dancing at the age of 12 with Incolballet, a ballet-centered secondary school. His teachers included artistic staff from the National Ballet of Cuba and several Russian ballet academies. After Mr. Peñuela’s graduation in 1986, Gloria Castro invited him to become a soloist with Columbia’s National Company, Ballet de Cali. During the seven years he was with Ballet de Cali, he danced throughout South America, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. His repertoire consisted of leading roles in contemporary works as well as classical pieces, including the principal male in Les Sylphides, Colin in La Fille Mal Gardée, and Franz in Coppélia.

In 1993, Mr. Peñuela moved to the United States to join Ballet Arizona in Phoenix, where he danced several pieces by artistic director and choreographer Michael Uthoff, and also created roles in new ballets by Violette Verdy and Helgi Tomasson. In 1996, he joined Dance Theater of Harlem, where he performed in many of George Balanchine’s works, including The Four Temperaments, Agon, Allegro Brillante, and Bugaku, as well as a variety of contemporary pieces.

Mr. Peñuela then joined Pennsylvania Ballet in 1998-2004. He was featured in several roles in The Nutcracker, and in Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Great Galloping Gottschalk. Most notably, he received critical praise for dancing the role of The Moor in Josè Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane. He also performed in new works such as Jeffrey Gribler’s Cricket Dances, Meredith Rainey’s Slight Shifts, and Matthew Neenan’s Sfrenato.

Juan Carlos then worked as a freelance dancer, ballet master, and répétiteur based in New York City, working with various companies and schools all over the US and abroad. He has rehearsed & staged full-length ballets such as: Giselle, Don Quixote, Paquita, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella, Walpurgis Nights, Diana & Acteon, Flower Festival in Genzano, Les Sylphides, Spartacus, Carmen, Raymonda, and Le Corsaire, as well as works created by choreographers Chiara Ajkun, Meredith Rainey, Gloria Castro, and Diane Coburn Bruning, to name a few.

Juan Carlos is currently the Ballet Master of Ballet Hispanico Company in New York City as well Senior Ballet Master for the School of Dance. He teaches company classes at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Alvin Ailey School. Mr. Peñuela is faculty member of Joffrey Ballet School and Marymount Manhattan College, both in New York City.

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Francis Patrelle

Adult Division Faculty

Francis Patrelle serves as the Artistic Director for Dances Patrelle. He holds a BFA from The Juilliard School. Mr. Patrelle is a former resident choreographer at Berkshire Ballet, a part of the faculty of Manhattan School of Music, and former chairman of the dance division at USDAN Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. Mr. Patrelle has choreographed on such illustrious dancers as Cynthia Gregory, Merrill Ashley, Judith Fugate, Lourdes Lopez, Jennifer Ringer, John Meehan, Donald Williams, Peter Boal, and Jock Soto. As resident choreographer, Mr. Patrelle has encouraged and guided the development of many young choreographers. Francis Patrelle has been a faculty member at BAE since 1979.

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Tara Mora

Adult Division Faculty

Tara Mora was raised in Queens, New York. Her ballet training began with Donja Joseph at Studio E School of Dance and continued, on scholarship, with The School of American Ballet, and at LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts. Ms. Mora has enjoyed a professional career dancing in ballet companies throughout the United States including The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Carolina Ballet, where she was a founding member, Cincinnati Ballet, and Alabama Ballet.

Among the highlights of her fourteen year career was the opportunity to perform soloist and principal roles in Balanchine classics such as Serenade, Square Dance, Who Cares?, Monumentum/Movements, Diamonds, Concerto Barocco, and Scotch Symphony. Ms. Mora has also had the pleasure of dancing soloist and principal roles in the work of esteemed choreographers Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Robert Weiss, Kirk Peterson, Christopher Wheeldon, Wes Chapman, and Roger Van Fleteren. She is thrilled to be a member of the BAE faculty.

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Joseph Malbrough

Pre-Professional Stretch Faculty

Joseph Malbrough is a former principal dancer with Chicago City Ballet, Ballet Chicago, and L’Opera de Lausanne. He also performed with Makarova and Company, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Fort Worth Ballet. Joseph is a former ballet master and teacher, Jeunne Ballet in Lausanne, Switzerland. He has taught at BAE since 2005.

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Olga Dvorovenko

Adult Division Faculty

Olga Dvorovenko is a former principal dancer and ballet mistress with the Ukrainian State Academic Dance Ensemble. She was honored by the President of the Ukraine for outstanding artistic achievement. She is a faculty member at American Ballet Theater Studio Company and JKO school. In 2002, Olga was invited by ABT to dance the role of “Madame” in Antony Tudor’s Offenbach in the Underworld, and in 2006 the role of “Madam” in Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon. She has been a faculty member at BAE since 1998.

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Danielle Cortier

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Danielle Cortier received a BA in Dance and Dance Education from Ball State University. She has performed with The Puppeteers Cooperative, works by Jen Medina; currently with Mariana Bekerman Dance Company and rehearsal director/dance captain for Eidolon Ballet. She has taught at BAE since 2008.

austin-walker

Austin Walker

Accompanist Faculty, Guest

Austin Walker is an internationally recognized modern drummer that doubles on world percussion and is based out of New York City. Austin moved to NYC in 2005 from Massachusetts to attend the Manhattan School of Music. There he studied with faculty drummer John Riley, while achieving a Bachelors and Masters in Music. Austin has performed and conducted as a musical director for the Jose Limon Dance Company. Austin maintains an active and busy life in the arts and music scene of New York City. He is currently a faculty accompanist for Ballet Academy East as well as the 92Y.

www.austinwalkermusic.com

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Steven Mitchell

Accompanist, Guest

A celebrated figure in dance accompaniment, Steven Mitchell has accompanied and performed with some of the most esteemed dance institutions. He is currently the ballet rehearsal pianist for the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Steven holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from Houghton College, NY, a Master of Music in Piano Performance, and a Master of Music in Piano Pedagogy from Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX.

From 1992-1998 he was a staff pianist for Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education; while there he performed as soloist and with Boston Ballet Orchestra. From 2000-2002 he held the position of Company Pianist for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre; from 2000 – 2004 he held the keyboard chair for the Pittsburgh Ballet Orchestra.

In the 2010 and 2011 seasons, he was the rehearsal pianist for Dutch National Ballet, the Netherlands.

He was class pianist for the Columbia Pictures film Center Stage, his music can be heard in the film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and he was also heard during the ballet class scenes of the TV series Flesh and Bone on the Starz network.

In New York City he has played for most of the major companies and schools, and he holds a special place in his heart for Ballet Academy East and its director Julia Dubno.

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Annie Lebeaux

Accompanist, Guest

Annie Lebeaux has been a professional pianist since 1970, when she graduated from Boston Conservatory in her native New England. In addition to serving as musical director for over 60 regional shows, she’s had a wide range of experience both behind the scenes and as a performer. Some favorites include 5 years with the New York Renaissance Faire, touring with orchestras, playing Broadway shows in Europe, 9 years performing on the Delta Queen Steamboat, and 5 years performing on the American Orient Express train. For the last several years she has been playing for ballet, finally using the classical music she learned at the conservatory so long ago.

sofiya-leavsie

Sofiya Leavsie

Accompanists Faculty

Sofiya Leavsie graduated from the Belorussian State Conservatory. She held the position of Head of the Theory Department at the School of Arts in Belarus. After moving to the USA, Sofiya studied composition at the Juilliard School. She accompanied ballet classes at the Usdan Center for Performing Arts, where she was very lucky to meet Francis Patrelle, who brought her into the world of dance. Currently, Sofiya has accompanied classes at Ballet Academy East since 1995. She also plays for classes at American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Tech, Cedar Lake, The Juilliard School and Hunter College.

michael-kooman

Michael Kooman

Accompanist Faculty, Guest

Michael Kooman is a composer and pianist living in NYC. As a writer of musical theater, he won a Jonathan Larson Grant in 2010, and was the first recipient of the Lorenz Hart Award in 2011 (along with his collaborator Christopher Dimond). Michael is currently under commission from the Kennedy Center.

His musicals have been workshopped or performed at the American Conservatory Theater, ASCAP, Disney Musical Theater Workshop, The Williamstown Theater Festival, London’s Ambassador Theater, and the 2011 NAMT Festival of New Musicals. In 2011, Michael released an album of his music, Out of Our Heads: the music of Kooman + Dimond, on iTunes, which features some of Broadway’s biggest stars. As a pianist, he accompanies at NYU, Alvin Ailey, Rosie’s Theater Kids, and Ballet Academy East.

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Benjamin Bradham

Accompanist, Guest

Benjamin Bradham, born in Greensboro, North Carolina, is a Juilliard School graduate with extensive background as a concert performer. Benjamin’s long involvement with the dance world includes frequent requests from international professional companies to play for company classes. Among these are American Ballet Theatre, Mark Morris Dance Group, Ballet Hispanico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Les Ballets Trocadero de Monte Carlo, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and others.

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Kevin Sport

Accompanist

Kevin Sport is a multi-faceted drummer/percussionist, whose diverse percussive talents have facilitated a musical life ranging from New York club dates to Cairo concert halls. He has performed almost every genre of popular and art music, from middle-eastern dub to indie rock in clubs all over NYC, including The Knitting Factory, Sin-e, Pianos and Kush, and with Turkish master drummer Bunyamin Olguncan at the American University in Cairo.

In 2011 he founded Limbs, a percussion duo, with Mark Katsaounis, and they have a full calendar of performances and workshops. He also works as an accompanist for modern dance classes, playing in studios including The Alvin Ailey School, The Martha Graham School, and Ballet Academy East. Kevin earned his BM in Percussion from James Madison University, and has performed and studied gamelan in Bali and dumbek in Turkey, Egypt, and Morocco. The dumbek has since become a centerpiece of his work.

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Rosanne Soifer

Accompanist

Rosanne Soifer was born in New York City. Her music career encompasses many areas, including composing, arranging and production, and playing piano. She has lectured extensively on music business and life skills at the Institute of Audio Research (IAR) and the School of Audio Engineering (SAE Institute), and is now an adjunct at Touro College, all in NYC. Her music career began when she was fifteen, playing in a local youth dance band, and for dance classes and talent shows.

She received a BS in Music from Indiana University’s renowned School of Music. Rosanne has worked as an accompanist for American Ballet Theater, and continues to play at many professional studios, schools, and college dance departments around the New York City area, including Ballet Academy East, SAB, Marymount Manhattan, Steps, and Peridance. She also works as a music director in the field of Jewish music. Other work experience includes dinner theater, single engagements, and as a road musician based in Nashville. In the 1980’s, she was the first female business agent hired by Musicians Local 802 in NYC. In 1994, Rosanne Soifer and Steve Danenberg arranged and published the CHANUKAH SUITE for pops orchestra. It continues to receive numerous performances each year by over 30 orchestras around the country.

Their pops vocal piece PUT OUT THE DARKNESS was premiered by the Tacoma Symphony and chorus in 2007. Her articles have appeared in many music industry publications such as Sound & Video Contractor, The Music Paper, and Pro Sound News. She also wrote the book Music In Video Production, published by Focal Press. Rosanne is a member of Musicians Local 802, ASCAP, and National Music Publishers Association. She lives in NYC.

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Doug Schultz

Accompanist

Douglas Schultz (Pianist, Composer) began his association with dance at Bard College, his alma mater, as both a class pianist and performer. His first accompanying position upon his arrival in New York, more than 25 years ago, was at Ballet Academy East, a position he gladly holds to this day. During his years in New York, he has been on the music staff of American Ballet Theatre, was guest Company Pianist for Dance Theatre of Harlem, and held the title of Company Pianist for the Joffrey Ballet preceding their move to Chicago.

He has also been on the staff of many major New York dance schools, including the Alvin Ailey and Martha Graham schools. He currently works at Ballet Academy East, Adelphi University, and is a senior pianist at Steps Studios, where he accompanies Wilhelm Burmann, David Howard, and Nancy Bielski, among others. In addition, he has composed and recorded extensively for ballet and modern dance, creating both original ballets and music for ballet class. His class music is recorded under his own label, Cynosura Sound.

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Mary Beth Roberts

Accompanist

Mary Beth has been a ballet accompanist with BAE since 1990. She has also worked at New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, School of American Ballet, Eliot Feld Ballet, Steps, Broadway Dance, Eglevsky, Alvin Ailey, Ballet Arts, and The Metropolitan Opera. Mary Beth was a scholarship student at The Oberlin Conservatory, where she received her degree in Piano Performance. She also studied with Herbert Stessin and Nadia Reisenberg from The Juilliard School.

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Renee Ong

Accompanist

Renee Ong is a composer, orchestrator, and pianist from Singapore. As a dance pianist, she performs with dance companies and pre-professional schools like Dance Theatre of Harlem, Singapore Dance Theatre, New York Theatre Ballet, Harlem School of The Arts, Ballet Tech Public School, Ballet Academy East, and Singapore School Of The Arts. She also music directs musical theatre and collaborates with independent filmmakers.

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Lali Mirry

Accompanist

Lali Mirry was born in Tbilisi (now Republic of Georgia). She graduated from the Georgian State Conservatory, and received her M.D. at Livonian State Conservatory (Vilnius, now Livonia). Lali was a soloist with the Georgian State Philharmonic. She has been living in New York since 1994, and has accompanied classes at BAE since 1996. Lali has also accompanied dance classes at the Juilliard School, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Tech, and City Center.

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Joan Matthews

Accompanist

Joan Matthews has a BA in Music from SUNY Empire State College. She accompanied for a number of schools in London while living there for several years. Joan has been filling the BAE studios with her beautiful music since 1992.

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Eleonora Marder

Accompanist

Eleonora Marder was born in Moscow, Russia. She is a graduate of the Academic Music College of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory and The Gnesins Russian Academy of Music. Her professional career as an accompanist began when she was 17 years old at a vocal studio. It continued at Novosibirsk Conservatory, where she worked with both instrumentalists and vocalists. Eleonora was a head pianist at the Samarkand Opera Theater in Uzbekistan. Upon her return to Moscow, she worked as an accompanist at The Gnesins College for over 15 years. Her career in ballet accompaniment began in 1995 at Dance Adventure in Greenwich, CT. Eleonora has accompanied ballet classes at Ballet Academy East since 2001, as well as at The Juilliard School, Ballet Arts, and City Center.

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Rich Klessig

Accompanist

Rich Klessig has been a dance accompanist for over 20 years. His ballet “Don Juan” has been performed by Ballet Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic Orchestra, and he has an album entitled “Quiet Jazz for Solo Piano.” Mr. Klessig holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Performance from the Berklee College of music in Boston, and currently plays piano and percussion for Ballet Acadamy East, Alvin Ailey, and the 92nd Street Y.

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Tomoko Kawaguchi

Accompanist Faculty

Tomoko Kawaguchi is a graduate of Manhattan School of Music. In addition to her classes at Ballet Academy East, Ms. Kawaguchi has worked with notable ballet masters from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and The Juilliard School. Her repertoire is versatile, ranging from classical music to ragtime. Ms. Kawaguchi loves accompanying character classes, and has been playing for Ms. Olga Dvorovenko’s character class at BAE for the past 3 years.

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Colleen Jones

Accompanist

Colleen has been a ballet accompanist for the past five years. She received her extensive classical training in Canada and did her jazz studies in New York. Colleen is currently an accompanist with Ballet Academy East, the 92nd Street Y, and Mark Morris Dance Group.

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Ludmilla Halfen

Accompanist

Ludmilla Halfen, pianist and piano teacher, is a St. Petersburg Conservatory graduate. She toured with the Moscow State Concert Association, Mosconcert. Ms. Halfen was a faculty member of Bela Bartok School of Music and Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. She played for Briansky Saratoga Ballet Center summer program for 16 years, and has been a faculty member at BAE since 1990.

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Mikhail Golubitskiy

Accompanists Faculty

Mikhail Golubitskiy holds a masters degree in music from the Gnessin Musical Institute in Moscow. After graduating he worked as a professor and conductor in Ufa (Russia). Since moving to the New York in 1993, Mikhail has been a ballet accompanist at many ballet schools including Ballet Academy East, Peridance, Steps, Broadway Dance Center, American Ballet Theatre and Long Island University.

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Barbara Gayny

Accompanist

Barbara Gayny studied composition as a scholarship student with Lee Kraft at the Aaron Copeland School of Music. She has been playing piano for Ballet Academy East for 25 years. Barbara has also worked with the Alvin Ailey Dance Foundation, Elliot Feld, Joffrey II, New York University, Princeton University, City University of New York, and the 92nd Street Y. Barbara was the Polish translator/lyricist for Pope John Paul II’s musical play, Jeweler’s Shop, performed at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the United Nations. She performed and recorded with composer Mieczslaw Litwinski’s ensemble in the the mid-to-late ’80’s.

Barbara’s vocal music has been performed and recorded by Libana on Night Passage, Sbanachie label, and Singing the Stories of the West, Hal Leonard Publications. Barbara has performed with her husband, nationally acclaimed singer/songwriter and western entertainer Ernie Sites, in the US and Great Britain, including the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah. Barbara’s focus is on integrating music with dance, storytelling, and audience participation in a variety of musical styles. Her primary instrument is piano, but Barbara also loves to sing and play the vibraphone and riqq, the Arabic tambourine.

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Whitney Gardner

Accompanist Faculty

Whitney Gardner is a pianist and piano teacher in New York City. In addition to being a gifted ballet accompanist at BAE, she is a dedicated piano teacher and the founder/artistic director of *In The Pocket NYC: a Co-op of Teaching Musicians* (www.inthepocketnyc.com).

Whitney studied at Carnegie Mellon University, earning both a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Music in Piano Performance.

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Miles Fusco

Accompanist

Miles Fusco earned two degrees from The Juilliard School of Music. He has performed on four continents, and made formal recital debuts at Carnegie Recital Hall in New York and The Wigmore Hall in London. He brings a special expertise to dance, having been Company Pianist for American Ballet Theater for 12 years, where he worked with such artists as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Cynthia Gregory, Cheryl Yaeger, Susan Jaffe, Fernando Bujones, Carla Fracci, Erik Bruhn, Rudolph Nureyev, and Margot Fonteyn. He toured with Gelsey Kirkland, Patrick Bissell, Kyra Nichols, Wendy Whelan, Natalia Makarova, and worked with choreographers Alvin Ailey and Twyla Tharp. Though most closely associated with ABT, Miles has also worked with New York City Ballet, Berlin Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and The Kirov.

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Jessica Cox

Accompanists Faculty

Amanda is originally from North Carolina. She received a BFA in dance performance from Oklahoma City University, where she also performed with the American Spirit Dance Company. In addition to ballet, Amanda is also a licensed Zumba instructor.

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Jessica Cox

Accompanists Faculty

Originally from Richmond VA, Jessica Anne Cox received her Bachelor of Music from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ. Prior to moving to NYC, she was an accompanist with American Repertory Ballet’s Princeton Ballet School. She is an actress and singer and has appeared in a variety of productions in the tri-state area.

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Coty Cockrell

Accompanist

Coty earned his Bachelor’s Degree from Jacksonville State University in Classical Piano Performance, with a minor in Art. He then completed his Master’s Degree in Jazz Composition and Vocal Jazz at North Carolina Central University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. He was invited to perform in the 2012 Fiji International Jazz and Blues Festival, as well as international jazz festivals in Canada and South Africa, and in 2015 crafted a nation-wide concert/workshop series in conjunction with the US Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

In addition to his jazz experience, Coty is heavily involved in musical theater, having worked on several regional and Off-Broadway productions. Some professional credits include Allegro, Ragtime, West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, Songs for a New World, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

His passion for creative collaboration has led him to the dance world, where he is often found accompanying ballet classes at Steps on Broadway, Ballet Academy East, and the Joffrey Ballet School. He is also the principal company pianist with Dance Theatre of Harlem, with whom he has had the pleasure of touring to Austria, Italy, Canada, and Israel.

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Michael Cherry

Accompanist

Michael Cherry has been associated with Ballet Academy East as a staff pianist for more than 20 years. He has also served as Company Pianist and Soloist for Dance Theatre of Harlem from 1996 through 2004. He has also extensively performed as a piano soloist for The Limon Company. He has recorded five CDs of Music for Ballet Class. Michael holds a Masters Degree in Composition from the Manhattan School of Music, and was a recipient of the BMI Young Composers Award.

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Amanda Johnson

Accompanists Faculty

Amanda is originally from North Carolina. She received a BFA in dance performance from Oklahoma City University, where she also performed with the American Spirit Dance Company. In addition to ballet, Amanda is also a licensed Zumba instructor.

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Kevin Carpenter

Accompanist

Kevin Carpenter began his piano training with Lee Rickaway in Brazoria, Texas, and studied voice with Catherine Wafford and Katherine Ciesinski. He has sung with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, Austin Lyric Opera, and the Houston Masterworks Chorus. He was a music associate at First United Methodist Church of Austin, Texas, and on faculty with Ballet Austin for seven years before moving to New York in February of 2010. Kevin can now be heard in New York City at Ballet Academy East and Steps, as well as in cabaret clubs around Manhattan.

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Jamie Rae Walker

Pre-Professional Modern Faculty

Jamie Rae Walker began her ballet and Graham-based modern dance training at age eight in Levittown, Pennsylvania and later she performed with the Princeton Ballet, now American Repertory Ballet. In 1991 she began training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and in 1992 was awarded a scholarship by Violette Verdy at the Northeast Regional Dance Festival. Jamie Rae joined Miami City Ballet in 1994 and performed principal and soloist roles in Balanchine and Taylor dances until 2000.

In 2001 she received a scholarship to attend The Taylor School and was part of the original cast of Twyla Tharp’s Broadway show, Movin’ Out. Jamie Rae joined Taylor 2 in fall 2003, and became a member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company in summer 2008. Jamie Rae has been teaching the modern classes within the BAE Pre-Professional Division since 2011.

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Anne Kelly

Modern, Pilates & Stretch Faculty

Anne Kelly graduated Magna Cum Laude from Barnard College of Columbia University with a BA in English and Dance.She trained at the School of American Ballet and has been a member of the BAE faculty since 2004.

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Sonia Dawkins

Pre-Professional Modern Faculty

Sonia Dawkins is the founder and artistic director of Sonia Dawkins|Prism Dance Theatre. She is a graduate of The University of the Arts and received a Master’s in Dance/Kinesiology & Choreography from SUNY Brockport. Ms. Dawkins has been a faculty member at Pacific Northwest Ballet (12 ½ years) in Seattle, and Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington D.C.

She has also been an Artist-in-Residence at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre School, University of North Carolina School of the Arts, University of Oklahoma, Cincinnati Ballet School, and Jones Haywood Dance School. Ms. Dawkins has performed extensively with choreographers and companies in the United States and the Caribbean. Her national and international choreography credits include: Village Theatre (My Heart Is The Drum), Seattle Repertory Theatre (Pullman Porter Blues, Three Musketeers, Brother Size, The Breach), Pacific Northwest Ballet, Nevada Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre School, Seattle Theatre Group (Dance This), Bulgaria Dance Festival, Mexico International Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Young Arts Recognition, Youth Grand Prix, and Broadway Bound (13 the Musical, Bye Bye Birdie, God Lives in Glass).

Sonia has received the Gypsy Rose Lee Award for choreography for Brother Size, 2011, and was nominated for the same award for Pullman Porter Blues, 2012. She was a member of the Stage Directors Choreographers Society and The International Dance Council, and was a recipient of the New Directors Choreography Lab from Alvin Ailey American Dance Foundation. Ms. Dawkins worked with 2 projects of Hinton Battle, on the faculty/choreographer of SLK Ballet and Taratibu Youth Association, plus producing two SD|Prism Productions. Sonia Dawkins recently finished choreographing at University of Oklahoma and Village Theatre (My Heart Is The Drum).

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Courtney Conner

Pre-Professional Stretch Faculty

Courtney Conner received a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She has danced with Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre Workshop and performed in the national tour of Sesame Street Live!. Courtney is a member of Dances Patrelle and has been a faculty member at BAE since 1992.

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Rosanna Seravalli

Adult Division Faculty, Guest

Born in Florence, Italy, where she started ballet classes at Daria Collin’s School, Ms. Seravalli joined the Joffrey Ballet shortly after her arrival in the U.S. She then moved to American Ballet Theatre, where she spent the next eleven years, attaining the rank of soloist. After leaving ABT, Ms. Seravalli joined the faculty of the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College where she taught, staged, choreographed, rehearsed, and took on other academic responsibilities.

She was invited to Taipei, Taiwan, to work with the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre and the National Institute of the Arts. In that same year, she was also invited to teach at the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts. She has returned to teach at both institutions many times. Ms. Seravalli has been visiting ballet mistress for Ballet Philippines in Manila, where she rehearsed, staged, and taught classes for the school as well as for the company, with whom she went on a National Tour throughout the islands. Ms. Seravalli was also invited as a guest teacher and ballet mistress for the Ballet Municipal de Santiago and as a visiting teacher at its school.

In addition, she has returned many times to her home country to teach, stage, and consult. Ms. Seravalli has received a SUNY Research Foundation Grant to travel to the former Soviet Union to develop methods for adapting Russian classical training for American dancers. She received a Fulbright Fellowship to Chile, which allowed her to return to Ballet Municipal de Santiago. She has traveled throughout Chile and neighboring countries, giving seminars and master classes. Ms. Seravalli has worked with Guangdong Modern Company in Guangzhou, China, and was invited to teach at the University of Melbourne’s Victorian College of the Arts and at the Queensland University of Technology’s dance program in Brisbane, Australia. Ms. Seravalli was featured in Dance Magazine in an article entitled “Rosanna Seravalli: Teacher’s Wisdom.” Ms. Seravalli has choreographed and taught master classes for the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore, and has been invited to teach at the school of the Houston Ballet and in Nagoya, Japan.

She is currently a member of the faculty of American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive Program in New York City, and is certified from levels Preliminary through Five in ABT’s National Training Curriculum. In addition, she teaches regularly at a number of schools in New York City and throughout the country. In the fall semester of 2014, Ms. Seravalli was on a leave of absence from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase to accept an invitation to work in Taipei, Taiwan, where she taught at the Taiwan National University of the Arts (TNUA), gave master classes to Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s school, and taught, choreographed, and staged for the Lan Yang Youth Catholic Center in both Taipei and Luotong. In January, 2015 Ms. Seravalli returned to her position as Professor of Dance at Purchase College.

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Ana Luisa Baptista

Adult Division Faculty, Guest

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Ana Luisa Baptista currently performs with Ballet for Young Audiences. She is a certified Pilates instructor, trained by Peter Roel, Phoebe Higgins, and Susan Moran. She is a faculty member at Vaillancourt Studio since 1994, a faculty member at Pilates Shop/Yoga Garage Inc., and a faculty member at BAE since 1994.

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Julie Voshell

Adult Division Faculty

Julie has trained at North Carolina School of the Arts, Pennsylvania Ballet School, and Joffrey Ballet School, among others. She teaches a ballet class based on alignment, strength, and fluidity. Her performing credits include National tours of both Movin’ Out and SWING!. Companies include Dances Patrelle, Donald Byrd/The Group, Jennifer Muller/The Works, Manhattan Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, and North Carolina Dance Theatre. She has been teaching at BAE since 2009.

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Jamie Thiessen

Adult Division Faculty

Jamie Thiessen hails from beautiful Southern California, where she studied Musical Theatre and Dance at the University of California, Irvine. She moved to New York in 2008 and has had the privilege of dancing and touring around this country, and parts of Asia. She performed with Disney Cruise Line, Sesame Street Live!, and various regional theaters throughout the midwest. Favorite credits include “Marvelous Wonderettes,” “Carousel,” “Cabaret,” and “Pageant Princess.” Jamie can also be spotted performing annually in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Jamie joined BAE in 2013, teaching in the Pre-Ballet Division, in addition to adult Zumba classes.

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Ginger Thatcher

Adult Division Faculty

Ginger Thatcher has taught ballet for Norwegian National Ballet, Steps on Broadway, Cleveland Ballet, Houston Ballet Academy, Joffrey New School, Minnesota Ballet, USDAN, PeriDance, University of Michigan, Oakland University, Rutgers University, and BAE since 2002. Ginger’s choreography credits include: Billy The Kid, Pinocchio, Verb Ballets, “Swing” for Maine State Music Theatre, Wild Women of Planet Wongo for the NY Music Festival, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg for Two River Theatre Company, the film “Far From Heaven,” and Maury Yeston’s new musical, “Hans Christian Anderson” for Maine State Music Theatre.

Other New York credits include: Syncopation (Stamford Theatre Works), Big (Gateway Playhouse), The Lucky Chance (Jean Cocteau Rep., NYC), The Winter’s Tale and Othello (NYC Shakespeare Project), Barrio Babies (Amas Theatre Group NYC), and TV’s As The World Turns. Broadway Credits, as Associate, Assistant, and Resident Choreographer include: The Red Shoes, Carousel, Big, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, Oklahoma!, A Year with Frog and Toad. Other Credits: PBS Othello (San Francisco Ballet, ABT), The Red Shoes (ABT, National Ballet of Canada), A Brahams Symphony (ABT), and Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame (Berlin), all with Lar Lubovitch. She has also worked on “But Not for Me” (Martha Graham Dance Company) and “Take Five” (PNB), with Susan Stroman.

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Rebecca South-Woods

Adult Division Faculty

Rebecca has been teaching yoga at the school for 10 years. She has over 1500 hours of training in yoga and is certified with the yoga alliance in the US as well as Europe. Additionally, Rebecca is prenatal and Pilates certified. She is now an Urban Zen Integrative therapist, going into hospitals to help relax those in pain. Rebecca is dancing for Adele Myers and dancers and is touring through out the US. She has also taught in China, Africa and throughout the US. She has happily been member of the faculty at BAE since 2000.

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Stacy Soroczynski

Adult Division Faculty

Stacy Soroczynski, a New Jersey native, graduated with a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase in 2002, where she worked with choreographers Donald Byrd, Kevin Wynn, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Ayako Kurakako, Michael Blake, Astrid Von Ussar, and Tracie Stanfield. She danced for Rioult Dance NY for 12 years, and currently co-directs and teaches for Rioult Dance NY’s DanceREACH program and youth classes. Ms. Soroczynski has restaged Pascal Rioult’s repertory in Rhode Island, Bermuda, and France, and taught on the Summer Intensive faculty at Point Park College and in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, and France. She is Rioult’s Costume Coordinator and is also Studio Manager and Production Coordinator/Backstage Advisor for Ballet Academy East.

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Justin Sherwood

Adult Division Faculty

Justin Sherwood is an international dancer and choreographer. His training at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London, England, which encourages individuality and innovation in its curriculum, has shaped Justin’s extremely versatile and eclectic career. He is a recipient of the Choreographic Award of Prominence by the Central St. Marten’s School of Art and Design and Cochrane Theatre in London, and he has choreographed critically acclaimed productions both across the U.S. and in places as far away as Hong Kong and Albania.

As a performer, he is in his ninth season with the Metropolitan Opera, having appeared in numerous productions on their stage. Highlights include working with some of today’s best Film and Broadway directors like Julie Taymor, Robert LePage, Anthony Minghella, and Mary Zimmerman. In addition to his ballet and contemporary experience, Mr. Sherwood is also a gifted gymnast who has performed with crossover companies, incorporating elements of acrobatics and dance.

As an educator, Justin is an ABT® Certiﬁed Teacher and has completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7, as well as Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. He teaches at many recognized dance schools and resident companies, including New England Academy of Dance, Princeton Dance and Theater Studio, and Marymount Manhattan College.

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Jane Sato

Adult Division Faculty

Jane Sato has been teaching yoga since 2006. She trained at Om Yoga with Christie Clark and Frank Mauro. Her background includes 20 years of dance experience and bodywork. Jane’s anatomy and alignment-based yoga class utilizes pilates-based exercises, as well as meditation techniques. Jane also dances and tours with Rioult, a modern dance company based in NYC. She has enjoyed being a yoga teacher at BAE since 2010.

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Angelina Salama

Adult Division Faculty

Angelina is an experienced yoga and pilates professional, drawing from both modalities and her dance background to give insightful and challenging classes that synchronize movement and breath. Trained as a power vinyasa yoga teacher, she also studied restorative yoga and children’s yoga, bringing aspects of deep restfulness and playfulness into her core-centered classes.

Her yoga path has also included journeys into Ashtanga and Anusara yoga, and has been guided at different times by the wisdom of Rodney Yee, Cyndi Lee, and Charles Matkin. Her training in pilates has been through Power Pilates and the countless hours of practice needed to support her dance. Whether in yoga or pilates, Angelina strives to teach her students how to move intelligently and find the balance between effort and surrender.

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Jackson Rincon-Rodriguez

Adult Division Faculty

Jackson Rincon-Rodriguez is originally from Bogota, Colombia. He is a professional dancer with over a decade of experience in multiple styles of latin dance. He has been a licensed Zumba instructor and member of the Zumba Instructor Network since April 2016.

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Don Paradise

Adult Division Faculty

Don Paradise trained with Mme Maria Swaboda, Leon Danielion, and Anotole Vilzak at the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and is a former principal member of PACT Ballet in South Africa. He worked with Roland Petit, Françoise Adret, and Frank Staff, and is a former member of Ruth Page International Ballet. Don has been a faculty member at BAE since 1989.

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Meaghan Maxwell

Adult Division Faculty

Meaghan Maxwell holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Ohio State University. She has performed with Eidolon Ballet and JT Lotus Dance Company. Meaghan has been teaching at BAE since 2008.

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Lisa Lockwood

Adult Division Faculty

Lisa Lockwood danced with the American Ballet Theatre for ten years, subsequently with Feld Ballet, and was an original cast member of Phantom of the Opera. The choreographers she worked with personally include Anthony Tudor, George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Glen Tetley, Eliot Feld, and Sir Kenneth McMillan.

She currently teaches at Ballet Academy East and Steps on Broadway in New York. She has been a member of the faculties of Broadway Dance Center, Ballet Hispanico, and Alvin Ailey, and is an in-demand guest teacher at many international institutions such as the Metropolitan Opera, The Royal Ballet School (Denmark), Kaatsbaan Dance Center (New York), Juilliard, Joffrey Ballet, and Edmonton Ballet. Additionally, she teaches and coaches private students who are motivated to bring their ballet proficiency to the highest possible level.

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Marsha Fay Knight

Adult Division Faculty

Marsha Fay Knight (MFA University of Utah) is a Professor at the University of Wyoming where her primary responsibilities lie in the teaching of ballet and pointe technique, historical dance, choreography, and dance pedagogy. Marsha’s early training began in Richmond, VA, with continued training at the University of Utah under Willam Christensen, Toni Lander Marks and Li-Chou Cheng.
Full-evening productions include Nutcracker, Coppélia, Pulcinella, and Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth. Marsha’s contemporary ballet, Of a Mind, was selected for presentation at the Kennedy Center through the adjudication process of ACDA. She guests regularly in Denver and Colorado Springs, as well as in Utah, Montana and South Dakota. Marsha is currently on a year-long sabbatical in NYC, focused on research at Ellis Island for a full-evening dance/theatre work, Six Songs from Ellis.

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Anne Kelly

Adult Division Faculty

Anne Kelly graduated Magna Cum Laude from Barnard College of Columbia University with a BA in English and Dance. She trained at the School of American Ballet and has been a member of the BAE faculty since 2004.

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Amanda Johnson

Adult Division Faculty

Amanda is originally from North Carolina. She received a BFA in dance performance from Oklahoma City University, where she also performed with the American Spirit Dance Company. In addition to ballet, Amanda is also a licensed Zumba instructor.

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Cornel Crabtree

Adult Division Faculty

Cornel Crabtree was born in Tripoli, Libya. He began dancing at fourteen and trained under full scholarship at both the San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet. Former teachers include Anatole Vilzak, Stanley Williams, Alexandria Danilova, Andrei Kamarevsky, and Gabriella Darvash, with whom he trained extensively.

Mr. Crabtree was a member of New York City Ballet for ten years, where he danced principal roles in a wide variety of ballets, such as Balanchine’s Serenade, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jewels, Vienna Waltzes, The Nutcracker, and Jerome Robbin’s Dances at a Gathering, In the Night, and Goldberg Variations, to name a few. Mr. Crabtree has performed on television in Bournonville Dances, which was telecast as part of PBS Dance in America series, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream Live from Lincoln Center broadcast. He was also invited to the Stars Shine for the Acropolis in Athens, where he danced Black Swan Pas de Deux. In 1989, he danced the title role of Oscar Wilde in the premiere of the Irish National Ballet’s production of “Oscar,” choreographed by Domy Reiter-Soffer.

In 1990, he danced Swan Lake at the National Theater in Taiwan. From 1990-92 he was a principal with Miami City Ballet, where he performed in Balanchine’s Bugaku, Square Dance, Glinka Pas de Trois, Jewels, Scotch Symphony, Concerto Borrocco, Pas de Dix, and Stars and Stripes Pas de Deux, as well as Petipa’s Sleeping Beauty. Mr. Crabtree has appeared as a principal quest artist with Pacific Northwest Ballet, Festival Ballet Providence, Ballet Austin, and The Daring Project. With these companies he performed in Paquita, Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, Esmerelda, Flower Festival, and La Sylphide. From 2000-01 he was a principal with Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, where some of his repertoire included Flemming Flint’s The Lesson, Ashton’s Monotones, and Arpino’s Kettentanz. A few of the new ballets created on him were Lambros Lambrou’s Byzantium, Remembrances, The Rite of Spring, and Stanton Welch’s Orange.

In 2004 he performed John Clifford’s Casablanca, which premiered in Beijing. Mr. Crabtree has performed the roles of Slavemaster/Solo Dancer for the Broadway and National tour productions of Phantom of the Opera. Mr. Crabtree has been on faculty at Marymount Manhattan College, Broadway Dance Center, Ballet Arts, and Fieldston School of Ethical Culture.

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Courtney Conner

Adult Division Faculty

Courtney Conner received a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She has danced with Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre Workshop and performed in the national tour of Sesame Street Live!. Courtney is a member of Dances Patrelle and has been a faculty member at BAE since 1992.

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Enrique Brown

Adult Division Faculty

Enrique Brown is a theatrical performer, director, choreographer, and producer. He also travels the country teaching ballet, jazz, and theater dance. He began his training in Dallas, and continued with numerous instructors all over the nation, including schools like the Houston Ballet Academy and Virginia School of the Arts.

Enrique proceeded to spend four seasons with Ballet Oklahoma as a principal/soloist dancer. From there, Mr. Brown went on to become an actor/singer/dancer in many Broadway, national touring, regional, and stock productions. He was last seen playing multiple characters in the Broadway production of The Little Mermaid at The Lunt Fontaine. Other Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof, The Music Man (where he performed the role of Tommy Djilas), and Oklahoma!.

He can also be seen dancing in the film titled “Across the Universe,” directed by Julie Taymor. Enrique is the founder of Brown Productions, a theatrical production company based in New York City. It is dedicated to developing and mounting Broadway and West End musicals and plays for the commercial theatre.

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Marina Bilterijst

Adult Division Faculty

Marina Bilterijst is originally from the Netherlands and received her BFA in Dance at Codarts, Rotterdam. In the Netherlands, Ms. Bilterijst danced with Scapino Ballet Rotterdam before moving to New York in 2013. In 2014, she received the Steele Pilates Mat Certification with Teri Lee Steele and has been teaching Pilates since then at several locations throughout New York City.

Currently, Ms. Bilterijst is a dancer with Nimbus Dance Works, where she is also an instructor at the Nimbus’ School of Dance. At the moment, Marina teaches Pilates group classes as well as private sessions on both mat and apparatus. Over the past two years, Marina has broadened her Pilates knowledge by taking continuing education workshops for the stability ball, foam roller and pre/post-natal.

Her classes are based on the Pilates Principals, incorporating the classic Pilates exercises and a constant introduction of new variations within these exercises. Every class starts with proper breathing techniques to prepare you for an intense workout using your deeper abdominals in each exercise.

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Maximilien Baud

Adult Division Faculty

Maximilien Baud trained at the School of American Ballet for 10 years under the guidance of Peter Martins, Jock Soto, Peter Boal, Olga Kostritzky, and Andrei Kramarevsky. While a student, he performed with the NYC Ballet and was part of the original cast of two world premieres: Organon by Elliot Feld and Scenes de Ballet by Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon.

Mr. Baud began his professional career with the Carolina Ballet under Robert Weiss. There he would work with choreographers such as Lynne Taylor Corbett, Robert Weiss, Damian Woetzel, and Christopher Wheeldon. In 2005, Mr. Baud joined the Pennsylvania Ballet under the directorship of Roy Kaiser and would perform principal roles in ballets by Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, George Balanchine, and many more. In 2009, Mr. Baud had the opportunity to work on the Oscar-nominated film Black Swan, by Darren Aronofsky. In 2010, he joined the national/international tour of Billy Elliot the Musical performing the role of Older Billy, and was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award for Best Supporting Performer in a Musical. He was in the ensemble of the national tour of Flashdance the Musical (based on the iconic 80’s film) under the directorship of Tony Award-winning choreographer, Sergio Trujillo. Maximilien has reprised his role of Older Billy in regional productions of Billy Elliot with the MUNY, North Carolina Theater, and the North Shore Music Theater company.

Mr. Baud has had the opportunity to teach at numerous dance studios around the country, as well as coach the young Billys from Billy Elliot. Currently, he is on the staff at The Joffrey Ballet School. He helped co-create the Joffrey Ballet School Musical Theater Summer Intensive, where he holds the position of Associate Director. He also serves as a teacher and an adjudicator for Sheer Talent, the international dance competition. While teaching, Mr. Baud enjoys enriching the lives of dancers through discipline and a passion for the arts.

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Shirley Bassat

Adult Division Faculty

Shirley Bassat studied with Vickie Sheer, Harry Asmus, Barbara Fallis, Richard Thomas, and Dick Andros. She danced with Elena del Cueto, Dover Ballet, and U.S. Terpsichore. Shirley has taught at New York School of Ballet, Harkness Dance Center, Bronx House Music School, BOCES in Syocset, Usdan, and is currently teaching at 92nd St Y. Shirley has been teaching at BAE since 1989.

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Wendy Amos

Adult Division Faculty

Wendy Amos teaches Body Conditioning based on the principles of Joseph Pilates. She received an MA from the Teachers College at Columbia University. Wendy is a former student and company apprentice with Dance Theatre of Harlem. She has been a faculty member at Alvin Ailey American Dance Center since 1977, a faculty member in Anatomy and Kinesiology at Marymount Manhattan College since 1997, and a faculty member at BAE since 1996.

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Julia Dubno

Adult Division Faculty

“One thing that makes Ballet Academy East exceptional is our dedication to the personal development of each student. While expectations are high, so is our level of caring.”

The founder and director of Ballet Academy East, Julia Dubno began her ballet studies at the age of eight with Edwina Fontaine. She later studied with Francis Patrelle, Dick Andros, and Richard Thomas, and subsequently attended the Juilliard School where she studied with Hector Zaraspe and Afredo Corvino, as well as other noted teachers. Early in her studies at Juilliard, she realized her true interest was in teaching and administration. In 1978, she was asked by her mentor, Christine Fokine, to run the Fokine Ballet School.

That experience led to opening Ballet Academy East in a brownstone on East 79th Street with one small studio in 1979. Today the school has five spacious studios and a world-renowned faculty, and continues to flourish. As director of the school, Julia Dubno continues to oversee the day-to-day operations and is in close contact with the faculty in order to be kept abreast of all areas of the school.

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Becka Vargus

Young Dancer Division Faculty, Guest

Becka Vargus graduated with honors from Brown University. She has performed and toured with Taylor 2, Maffei Dance Company, Avodah Dance Ensemble, Martita Goshen’s Earthworks, Vencl Dance Trio, Sue Hogan, Lincoln Center’s Little Orchestra, and in many reconstructions for the American Dance Legacy Institute, including the film of Sophie Maslow’s “The Village I Knew.” She was also seen in the off-Broadway production of “Phenomenon.” She is a dance teaching artist for Lincoln Center Institute and has been on the faculty at Ballet Academy East since 1997.

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Breanna Bartley

Young Dancer Division Faculty, Guest

Originally from Los Angeles, Breanna Bartley is an actor, singer, and dancer who has performed Off-Broadway, regionally, and on tour. Breanna studied dance at Pasadena Dance Theatre and Classical Ballet Academy in California. She holds a BA in Ethnomusicology from Barnard College, Columbia University. Breanna is a member of Actors’ Equity, and has been with BAE since 2011.

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Danielle Zins

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Danielle began her dance training at Interlochen Arts Academy. She studied dance under the direction of Cameron Basden along with artists in residence Patrick Corbin, Christian Burns, Denise Vale, Thang Dao, Helen Starr, Erik Newton, and others. At IAA, she participated in the initiation year of their exchange program with Singapore School of the Arts in 2012.

In 2016, she graduated magna cum laude from Marymount Manhattan College with a B.F.A in Modern Dance. She was member of the Marymount Manhattan Dance Company and is currently a member of NSquared Dance. She began assisting classes at BAE in 2014 and is delighted to be a teacher for the Young Dancer Division.

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Jamie Thiessen

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Jamie Thiessen hails from beautiful Southern California, where she studied Musical Theatre and Dance at the University of California, Irvine. She moved to New York in 2008 and has had the privilege of dancing and touring around this country, and parts of Asia. She performed with Disney Cruise Line, Sesame Street Live!, and various regional theaters throughout the midwest. Favorite credits include “Marvelous Wonderettes,” “Carousel,” “Cabaret,” and “Pageant Princess.” Jamie can also be spotted performing annually in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Jamie joined BAE in 2013, teaching in the Pre-Ballet Division, in addition to adult Zumba classes.

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Ashley Talluto

Young Dancer Division Faculty, Guest

Ashley Talluto received her BFA from The Boston Conservatory. She trained at the Boston Ballet School under the direction of Laura Young. She has danced professionally with Eidolon Ballet, Ballet For Young Audiences, Inclined Dance Project, and Directions Dance Ensemble. She is currently signed with Mcdonald/Selznick Associates for commercial dance in NYC. She has been teaching at BAE since 2008.

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Cara McMullen

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Cara McMullen holds a BFA in Dance from SUNY Purchase. Prior to entering Purchase College’s Conservatory of Dance, she studied at several schools including Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, School of American Ballet, and The Rock School. Trained in several techniques and styles of dance, Cara has performed pieces by a large variety of choreographers such as Jonathan Phelps, Helen Pickett, and George Balanchine. She currently dances with the contemporary ballet company Dance Iquail, performing in NYC. She has been teaching at BAE since 2010.

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Meaghan Maxwell

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Meaghan Maxwell holds a BFA in Dance Performance from Ohio State University. She has performed with Eidolon Ballet and JT Lotus Dance Company. Meaghan has been teaching at BAE since 2008.

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Caitlin Maxwell

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Caitlin trained in Ohio at Sharrons School of Dance and Cleveland City Dance Academy, and is a former Miss Dance of America (DEA). She received a BFA in dance from Marymount Manhattan College. Professionally she has danced with Eidolon Ballet and 277 Dance Project. Caitlin has taught at BAE since 2005.

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Christina Marushok

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Christina Marushok began her training under the direction of Sarma and Larry Rosenberg at the Anaheim Ballet School. During her time there, she performed ballets including The Talisman, Ondine, The Humpbacked Horse, and competed in Youth America Grand Prix. She also had the opportunity to train with Jillana, former New York City Ballet principal dancer, and perform Serenade by George Balanchine. Christina is currently working toward her Bachelor of Arts in Dance Studies at Marymount Manhattan College, and has performed work by Bill T. Jones, Nacho Duato, Sidra Bell, and Drew Jacoby.

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Yuki Kittaka

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Yuki Kittaka received a BFA and MFA from Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. She has performed with Ei Kasahara Ballet Company and Chubu Festival Ballet Company in Japan. Yuki has been a faculty member at BAE since 1998.

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Anne Kelly

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Anne Kelly graduated Magna Cum Laude from Barnard College of Columbia University with a BA in English and Dance. She trained at the School of American Ballet and has been a member of the BAE faculty since 2004.

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Amanda Johnson

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Amanda is originally from North Carolina. She received a BFA in dance performance from Oklahoma City University, where she also performed with the American Spirit Dance Company. In addition to ballet, Amanda is also a licensed Zumba instructor.

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Marissa Frey

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Marissa Frey grew up in York, Pennsylvania, where she began her dance training at Greater York Youth Ballet under the direction of Lori Pergament. As a former member of Regional Dance America, she has earned many scholarships.

She has worked with choreographers such as Jessica Lang, Laszlo Berdo, Luis Fuentes, and Yesid Lopez. In 2009, she graduated from SUNY Purchase with a BFA in dance. She has performed works in premiere venues, including The Ailey Citigroup Theater, The Beacon Theatre, Bucks County Playhouse, Cleveland Playhouse Square, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, the Tenth Anniversary Dumbo Dance Festival, and Stage 48.

Marissa has been a company dancer with Janusphere Dance Company, DeMa Dance Company, Yesid Lopez Contemporary Dance: The Collective, Neville Dance Theatre, Eglevsky Ballet, and is currently dancing with Ballets with a Twist. Marissa is also a ballet teacher at Long Island City School of Ballet and Ballet Academy East.

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Kiersten Foster

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Kiersten Foster began her training under the direction of Lisa Maietta-Rybacki and Nanette Michele at Dream Makers Performing Arts in the Bronx, New York. She later trained at Fordham High School for the Arts under Bethany White. Ms. White extended Kiersten several performance opportunities, such as singing and dancing behind Paramore for their Self-Titled Tour and Z100’s 2013 Jingle Ball, both at Madison Square Garden, as well as dancing behind Twenty One Pilots on “Late Night With Seth Meyers.”

Kiersten is currently working toward her Bachelor of Arts in Dance Studies at Marymount Manhattan College and has performed work by Fernando Carrillo, Catherine Cabeen, and Jessica DiMauro.

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Carla Foster

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Carla Foster began dancing at the age of 3 under the direction of Penni Greenly at her local dance studio, Southern Dance Theatre, in Boynton Beach, FL. For 13 years she trained with ABT® Certified Teacher, Julie Bravata, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. At the age of 12, she was accepted into Miami City Ballet’s summer intensive, training under the direction of Edward Villella.

The next year, she moved to Boca Raton, Florida, and studied under the direction of Dan Guin and Jane Tyree at Boca Ballet Theatre. She also trained for a short while under the direction of Colleen Smith at Palm Beach Ballet. In 2013 she spent her summer studying with the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, FL, and in 2014 she attended Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Summer Intensive in Seattle, WA. After her successful summer at PNB, Carla was invited back as a professional division student for the 2014-2015 Season.

She has performed in many productions including Serenade, Paquita, Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, and both Balanchine and Stowell’s versions of The Nutcracker.

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Julia Ferra

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Julia Ferra trained at the Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia, under her coaches Natasha Zieger and Mariaelena Ruiz, performing classical roles including Giselle and Chopiniana as a participant in the Youth America Grand Prix. Julia has attended several summer training programs, including the Joffrey Ballet School, Miami City Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, Ballet Austin, and RIOULT Dance NY on scholarship. Julia graduated from Marymount Manhattan College in 2016, honored with the Golden Key in BFA Dance: Ballet Concentration.
Her performance experience includes original works by Anthony Ferro, Elena Comendador, David Flores, and Jae Man Joo. She currently teaches for the BAE Young Dancer Division, is a guest Teaching Artist with RIOULT Dance NY, and is on staff at SLT NYC.

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Sarah Feliciano

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Sarah Feliciano trained at Eliot Feld’s Ballet Tech New York City Public School for Dance under the direction of Christine Sarry and Daniel Levans. While attending the school, she was given the opportunity to perform at The Joyce Theater. Sarah graduated from Dean College with her Bachelors Degree in Dance with a minor in Psychology in 2015.

She graduated Summa Cum Laude, and was a member of the Golden Key and National Society of Leadership and Success. While at Dean, she trained with Boston Ballet’s Laura Young and performed ballets such as Don Quixote, Napoli, Tarantella, and Coppélia. Sarah has worked at Ballet Academy East’s Summerdance since 2011, and joined the Young Dancer Division faculty in 2015.

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Valerie Cortier

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Valerie Cortier began her training in South Bend, Indiana, at Flint’s Dance Studio, and also trained at Joffrey Ballet Summer School. She received a BFA in dance from Webster University, and has performed with several companies including: Eidolon Ballet, Common Thread Contemporary Dance Company, The Puppeteers Cooperative at Lincoln Center’s “Out of Doors” Festival, and Webster Dance Theatre. She has also performed in the NYC Fringe Festival and several choreography showcases in NYC. She has been a member of the faculty at BAE since 2004.

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Courtney Conner

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Courtney Conner received a BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts. She has danced with Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre Workshop and performed in the national tour of Sesame Street Live!. Courtney is a member of Dances Patrelle and has been a faculty member at BAE since 1992.

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Savannah Cobb

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Savannah Joy Cobb is originally from North Carolina, where she began serious ballet training at the age of nine under Galina Panova. At the age of fourteen, she began doing summer programs, including the Joffrey Ballet Intensive, CAMP: Common Art Mutual Passion, and David Parsons Intensive/Choreography Lab, as well as working on a site specific piece by Mark Dendy at the Museum of Modern Art.

While growing up, she traveled up and down the East Coast performing, where she won many titles at Conventions/Competitions including the Future Star Award Winner for Dance Spirit Magazine. In 2011 she moved to New York City to train in Broadway Dance Center’s Professional Semester, where she was able to perform for Glamour and Details Magazines’ End of the Year Celebration, as well as for New York City’s Choreographers Canvas. Savannah then chose to work as an entertainer at Hershey Park before beginning school at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Since then, Savannah has been in many works created by Dwight Rhoden, Douglas Becker, Roni Koresh, and Sidra Bell. During school she was lucky enough to travel to France, perform in RAW: Artists of Philadelphia, World of Dance, and The Capezio Ace Awards.

In 2016 her short film, Àme, was an official selection of the Philadelphia Screendance Festival. Having graduated with honors, Savannah has now had the opportunity to dance for Broadway Cares with DRA, Destiny Rising at the Joyce Theater, and has been involved in Project 4 5 20 with Pushing Progress.

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Ariella Aharon

Young Dancer Division Faculty

Ms. Aharon began her training in Syracuse, New York, and continued her studies at Princeton Ballet, CPYB, NYSSSA affiliated with NYCB, and BAE. She attended the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, performing works by George Balanchine, Betti-Jane Sills, and Stephanie Tooman. While at Purchase, she was selected to perform a piece choreographed by Stanton Welsh in collaboration with American Ballet Theater studio company.

Ms. Aharon realized her passion for teaching when she was given the opportunity to assist classes at Ballet Academy East in 2003. She is currently a senior faculty member of the school and is also delighted being one of the Ballet Masters for Dances Patrelle’s “The Yorkville Nutcracker”.

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Alan Hineline

Pre-Professional Division Faculty, Guest

A lifelong advocate for the arts, Alan Hineline delivers a rare blend of business acumen and artistic expertise with a proven track record of motivating organizations to achieve their artistic and strategic missions.

As Chief Executive Officer of Ballet San Jose, Hineline led all aspects of the organization’s mission fulfillment – working closely with trustee and artistic leadership on strategic initiatives, board development, financial stewardship, institutional marketing and fundraising campaigns, and artistic programming. Hineline served as CEO for Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB) from 2009 to 2014. His strategies to expand the CPYB profile and develop financial support of the organization’s mission put CPYB on a path toward long-term sustainability and viability for future generations of students and audience members. Previously, Hineline lead Ballet Philippines, in Manila, as Chief Operating Officer and Artistic Director. In his role, he oversaw a complete rebranding of the organization including repertoire expansion, artistic development of the company artists, and a heightened institutional profile.

Hineline returned to the CPYB faculty with a broad range of international teaching credentials. He is a sought-after choreographer/ballet master and has created more than 25 works for Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. His body of work can also be seen in the repertories of American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, Pennsylvania Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, and The Juilliard Dance Ensemble, among many others.

Hineline sits on the national advisory board of Regional Dance America. He is the founder of Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s choreographic initiative, ChoreoPlan. Among his many awards is the Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography from the Choo-San Goh and H. Robert Magee Foundation, as well as multiple National Choreography Awards from Regional Dance America.

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Stacy Caddell

Pre-Professional Division Faculty, Guest

Stacy Caddell was born in Norfolk, Virginia, where she began her dance training at the age of 5. She later attended the School of American Ballet, where she was invited to join the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine and was eventually promoted to soloist.

In 1991, Stacy joined Twyla Tharp’s dance company. She toured with Ms. Tharp and Mikhail Baryshnikov in the full evening production of “Cutting Up.” Stacy later assisted Ms. Tharp at American Ballet Theatre on “Known By Heart,” and also assisted Ms. Tharp at the New York City Ballet on “Beethoven’s Seventh.” From 2002-2005, Stacy served as the Dance Supervisor on Twyla Tharp’s Tony Award Winning Broadway show “Movin’ Out” and was also instrumental in staging its first national tour.

She has performed on PBS on four separate occasions. Stacy’s choreographic credits include the play “A Drama You Can Dance To,” the short film “Central Park,” The HBO series “The Sopranos,” the opera “Aida,” and three ballets for Ballet Academy East where she is currently a guest faculty member. Stacy travels nationally and internationally staging the works of Twyla Tharp. She also works for the George Balanchine Trust staging George Balanchine’s ballets. She has been a guest teacher at the Royal Danish Ballet and Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Stacy lives in New York City.

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Nicholas Ade

Pre-Professional Division Faculty, Guest

Nicholas Ade serves as School Principal of Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under Marcia Dale Weary as of September 2012. Mr. Ade danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet from 1996-2006. In 2006, he was named Principal of the Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s Francia Russell Center under Artistic Director Peter Boal. He has been the host of PNB’s Eyes on Dance and Discover Dance outreach performance, and has served as Project Coordinator for PNB’s Choreographers’ Showcase since 2005.

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Cheryl Yeager

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Cheryl Yeager received her early training at Maryland School of Ballet, performing with the Maryland Youth Ballet. She went on to receive scholarships to study at both the School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre School. Cheryl joined American Ballet Theatre in 1976, was promoted to soloist in 1981, and then became a principal dancer in 1986.

Cheryl originated leading roles in ballets including Twyla Tharp’s Brief Fling, Clark Tippet’s Bruch Violin Concerto, Lynne Taylor Corbet’s Great Galloping Gottchaulk, and Michael Smuin’s Peter and the Wolf. Cheryl has toured throughout the world with Alexander Godunov, Rudolph Nureyev, Peter Boal, Julio Bocca, and Mikhail Baryshnikov. She has been seen on television and video in Live From Lincoln Center: Raymonda, Giselle, Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote, and Billy the Kid, as well as Baryshnikov with Twyla Tharp, Baryshnikov’s Nutcracker, and Don Quixote with Julio Bocca. Cheryl is a summer faculty member at American Ballet Theatre and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.

She is also a well known private teacher and coach. Cheryl has been a much-loved senior faculty member in the Pre-Professional Division at Ballet Academy East since 2002.

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Wendy Whelan

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Wendy Whelan was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, where at the age of three she began taking dance classes with Virginia Wooton, a local teacher. At age eight she performed as a mouse with the Louisville Ballet in its annual production of The Nutcracker. Joining the Louisville Ballet Academy that year, she began intense professional training.

In 1981 she received a scholarship to the summer course at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet and a year later she moved to New York to become a full-time student there. She was invited to become a member of the New York City Ballet corps de ballet in 1986 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1991. Whelan has performed a wide spectrum of the Balanchine repertory and worked closely with Jerome Robbins on many of his ballets. She has originated featured roles in 13 ballets for Christopher Wheeldon, as well as in the ballets of William Forsythe, Alexei Ratmansky, Wayne McGregor, Jorma Elo, Shen Wei, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp.

In 2007, Whelan was nominated for an Olivier Award and a Critics Circle Award for her performances with Morphoses/Wheeldon Company. She has been a guest artist with The Royal Ballet and with the Kirov Ballet. She received the 2007 Dance Magazine Award, and in 2009 was given a Doctorate of Arts, honoris causa, from Bellarmine University. In 2011, she was honored with both The Jerome Robbins Award and a Bessie Award for her Sustained Achievement in Performance. In 2012, Whelan began developing new collaborative projects.

Her inaugural project, Restless Creature, which premiered at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in August of 2013, is a suite of four duets, created by and danced with four of today’s most cutting edge contemporary dancers/choreographers, Kyle Abraham, Joshua Beamish, Brian Brooks and Alejandro Cerrudo. Restless Creature traveled to London and Vail in 2014, and toured throughout the US in 2015. Whelan resides in New York City with her husband, the artist David Michalek.

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Elizabeth Walker

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Elizabeth Walker’s ballet training began in South Carolina with Don and Patricia Cantwell in Charleston, S.C. and continued with Ann Brodie in Columbia, S.C. Following two summer courses at the School of American Ballet in New York, Elizabeth was invited to stay for full time study on scholarship at the age of 15. She received a Princess Grace Foundation-USA Award Dance Scholarship and Nancy Davis Reagan Award in 1988, and a scholarship in the name of Alexandra Danilova and the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise in 1990.

At the age of sixteen, Elizabeth was invited by Suki Schorer and Merrill Ashley to take part as a demonstrator in “Balanchine Essays,” a video series cataloguing Balanchine technique produced by the George Balanchine Trust. Elizabeth was offered an apprenticeship with the New York City Ballet in 1990 and joined the corps de ballet in 1991. Among the dozens of roles she danced, many were featured or principal roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Peter Martins, Jerome Robbins, Lynn Taylor Corbett, and David Parsons.

In June 2009, Elizabeth retired from performing after 19 years with NYCB. Elizabeth taught on the faculty of the School of American Ballet, the official school of NYCB, from 2001-2007. Since 2009, Elizabeth has served as senior faculty at the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA) School of Ballet. Elizabeth joined the faculty at Ballet Academy East in 2007, teaching for the Pre-Professional Division and adult open classes.

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Juan Carlos Peñuela

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

A native of Cali, Colombia, Juan Carlos Peñuela began dancing at the age of 12 with Incolballet, a ballet-centered secondary school. His teachers included artistic staff from the National Ballet of Cuba and several Russian ballet academies. After Mr. Peñuela’s graduation in 1986, Gloria Castro invited him to become a soloist with Columbia’s National Company, Ballet de Cali. During the seven years he was with Ballet de Cali, he danced throughout South America, Europe, and the Caribbean Islands. His repertoire consisted of leading roles in contemporary works as well as classical pieces, including the principal male in Les Sylphides, Colin in La Fille Mal Gardée, and Franz in Coppélia.

In 1993, Mr. Peñuela moved to the United States to join Ballet Arizona in Phoenix, where he danced several pieces by artistic director and choreographer Michael Uthoff, and also created roles in new ballets by Violette Verdy and Helgi Tomasson. In 1996, he joined Dance Theater of Harlem, where he performed in many of George Balanchine’s works, including The Four Temperaments, Agon, Allegro Brillante, and Bugaku, as well as a variety of contemporary pieces.

Mr. Peñuela then joined Pennsylvania Ballet in 1998-2004. He was featured in several roles in The Nutcracker, and in Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s Great Galloping Gottschalk. Most notably, he received critical praise for dancing the role of The Moor in Josè Limon’s The Moor’s Pavane. He also performed in new works such as Jeffrey Gribler’s Cricket Dances, Meredith Rainey’s Slight Shifts, and Matthew Neenan’s Sfrenato.

Juan Carlos then worked as a freelance dancer, ballet master, and répétiteur based in New York City, working with various companies and schools all over the US and abroad. He has rehearsed & staged full-length ballets such as: Giselle, Don Quixote, Paquita, Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella, Walpurgis Nights, Diana & Acteon, Flower Festival in Genzano, Les Sylphides, Spartacus, Carmen, Raymonda, and Le Corsaire, as well as works created by choreographers Chiara Ajkun, Meredith Rainey, Gloria Castro, and Diane Coburn Bruning, to name a few.

Juan Carlos is currently the Ballet Master of Ballet Hispanico Company in New York City as well Senior Ballet Master for the School of Dance. He teaches company classes at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre and Alvin Ailey School. Mr. Peñuela is faculty member of Joffrey Ballet School and Marymount Manhattan College, both in New York City.

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Francis Patrelle

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Francis Patrelle serves as the Artistic Director for Dances Patrelle. He holds a BFA from The Juilliard School. Mr. Patrelle is a former resident choreographer at Berkshire Ballet, a part of the faculty of Manhattan School of Music, and former chairman of the dance division at USDAN Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. Mr. Patrelle has choreographed on such illustrious dancers as Cynthia Gregory, Merrill Ashley, Judith Fugate, Lourdes Lopez, Jennifer Ringer, John Meehan, Donald Williams, Peter Boal, and Jock Soto. As resident choreographer, Mr. Patrelle has encouraged and guided the development of many young choreographers. Francis Patrelle has been a faculty member at BAE since 1979.

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Tara Mora

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Tara Mora was raised in Queens, New York. Her ballet training began with Donja Joseph at Studio E School of Dance and continued, on scholarship, with The School of American Ballet, and at LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts. Ms. Mora has enjoyed a professional career dancing in ballet companies throughout the United States including The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Carolina Ballet, where she was a founding member, Cincinnati Ballet, and Alabama Ballet.

Among the highlights of her fourteen year career was the opportunity to perform soloist and principal roles in Balanchine classics such as Serenade, Square Dance, Who Cares?, Monumentum/Movements, Diamonds, Concerto Barocco, and Scotch Symphony. Ms. Mora has also had the pleasure of dancing soloist and principal roles in the work of esteemed choreographers Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Robert Weiss, Kirk Peterson, Christopher Wheeldon, Wes Chapman, and Roger Van Fleteren. She is thrilled to be a member of the BAE faculty.

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Joseph Malbrough

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Joseph Malbrough is a former principal dancer with Chicago City Ballet, Ballet Chicago, and L’Opera de Lausanne. He also performed with Makarova and Company, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Fort Worth Ballet. Joseph is a former ballet master and teacher, Jeunne Ballet in Lausanne, Switzerland. He has taught at BAE since 2005.

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Jenna Lavin

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Jenna Rae Lavin is originally from Queens, New York. She began her ballet training with Mme. Gabriela Darvash and Jody Fugate. She later graduated from the School of American Ballet where she studied with such teachers as Alexandria Danilova, Antonia Tumkovsky, and Stanley Williams. Ms. Lavin began her professional career at 17 when she was invited to join the Chicago City Ballet, under the direction of Maria Tallchief. Ms. Lavin also danced with the Atlanta Ballet, directed by Robert Barnett, for seven years.

Her principal and soloist roles with the Atlanta Ballet include: Balanchine’s Prodigal Son, The Four Temperaments, Serenade, Tarantella Pas de Deux, Minkus Pas de Trois as well as Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker. Ms. Lavin was a principal dancer with the Nashville Ballet where she danced Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, the title role in Giselle, and principal roles in the company’s contemporary repertoire. Other professional affiliations include the Los Angeles Ballet, under the direction of John Clifford. Ms. Lavin spent eight summers as a member of the Chautauqua Ballet Company, under the direction of Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, where she performed principal roles in ballets by Balanchine, Bonnefoux, and Clifford. She is a former soloist with Edward Villella’s Miami City Ballet, where she danced principal roles in many ballets including Divertimento #15, Jewels, Pas de Dix, Raymonda Variations, Valse Fantasies, Western Symphony, Glinka Pas de Trois, The Nutcracker, and Who Cares?. Ms. Lavin has worked with numerous choreographers, creating principal roles in ballets by Alonzo King, Lisa de Ribere, and Stanton Welch, to name a few. In the summer of 2003, Ms. Lavin performed in Casablanca, a collaboration between Warner Bros. and John Clifford’s Los Angeles Dance Theater.

Ms. Lavin has been teaching ballet to young dancers throughout her career, beginning in Chicago when she was 17. She has taught master classes in Atlanta, Michigan, and for the Nashville Ballet School. Ms. Lavin has been on faculty at Ballet Academy East since 2003 where she teaches and choreographs for the Pre-Professional Program. She is married to Cornel Crabtree. They are the proud parents of Sky, 13, Grayson, 9, and Cooper, born April, 2012.

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Gonzalo Garcia

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Gonzalo Garcia is a principal dancer with New York City Ballet. Born in Zaragoza, Spain, Mr. Garcia began studying ballet at the age of eight at Maria Avila’s school. In 1995, he attended the summer session at San Francisco Ballet School. Following this session, Mr. Garcia participated in the Prix de Lausanne, becoming the youngest dancer to receive a gold medal. He then returned to the School to resume his studies and was selected by Helgi Tomasson, Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet, to perform in a world premiere ballet created especially for the 1996 Spring Student Showcase. Mr. Garcia joined San Francisco Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in March 1998. In 2000, he was promoted to soloist, and in 2002 to principal dancer.

Mr. Garcia was invited to perform Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina with New York City Ballet as part of the company’s Balanchine Centennial Celebration in 2004. Mr. Garcia joined New York City Ballet in October 2007 as a principal dancer. At San Francisco Ballet, Mr. Garcia’s featured roles included Balanchine’s Apollo, The Four Temperaments, “Rubies” from Jewels, Prodigal Son, Square Dance, Symphony in C, Tarantella, and Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux; William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude; Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, Dybbuk, Fanfare, Glass Pieces, and Other Dances; Helgi Tomasson’s Giselle (Albrecht, Pas de Cinq), Romeo and Juliet (Romeo, Benvolio), Sleeping Beauty (Bluebird, Pas de Six), Swan Lake (Prince Siegfried, Pas de Trois, Neopolitan), and Mr. Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov’s Don Quixote (Basilio); and Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia and There Where She Loved.

In addition, Mr. Garcia created the roles of Nutcracker Prince in Mr. Tomasson’s Nutcracker and Aminta in Mark Morris’s Sylvia, and originated a role in Mr. Wheeldon’s Continuum. Mr. Tomasson coached Mr. Garcia in Balanchine’s Divertimento from ‘Le Baiser de la Fée’ as part of the George Balanchine Foundation Video Archives.

photo: Erin Baiano

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Olga Dvorovenko

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Olga Dvorovenko is a former principal dancer and ballet mistress with the Ukrainian State Academic Dance Ensemble. She was honored by the President of the Ukraine for outstanding artistic achievement. She is a faculty member at American Ballet Theater Studio Company and JKO school. In 2002, Olga was invited by ABT to dance the role of “Madame” in Antony Tudor’s Offenbach in the Underworld, and in 2006 the role of “Madam” in Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon. She has been a faculty member at BAE since 1998.

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Cynthia Birdwell

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Cynthia Birdwell is originally from Houston, Texas, and began her training at the Asbury School of Dance. She then joined the Margo Marshall School of Ballet, and was a member of their student company. Cynthia attended High School of the Performing and Visual Arts as a Dance major, and spent her summers at School of American Ballet.

Cynthia took a break from ballet and pursued a successful modeling career. She has been on the faculty of the BAE Pre-Professional Ballet Division since 1998.

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Maxim Beloserkovsky

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

A principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, Maxim Beloserkovsky received his dance training at the Kiev Ballet Institute. In 1990 he danced as a leading soloist with the National Opera of Bulgaria where he remained for one year. From 1991 to 1994, he was a principal dancer with the National Opera Ballet of the Ukraine, and toured with them to numerous countries, including France, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Egypt, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and the U.S.

He performed most of the major roles in the classical repertory: the Prince and Bluebird in Sleeping Beauty; Prince Siegfried and the Pas de Trois in Swan Lake; Albrecht in Giselle; Ferhad in Legend of Love; and the Pas de Deux from Le Corsaire, Don Quixote and La Sylphide. In 1993, Mr. Beloserkovsky was honored by the President of the Ukraine for outstanding artistic achievement. After joining American Ballet Theatre in 1994, Mr. Beloserkovsky was made a soloist in 1995 and was appointed principal dancer in 2000, following a brilliant season in which he was repeatedly cited for his superior artistry, “(adding) virtuosity to his pure classical style.” (Anna Kisselgoff, The New York Times.) His performance as Basilio in Don Quixote was a triumph: “The last Don Quixote of the season … had (partner and wife) Irina Dvorovenko and Mr. Beloserkovsky in a stunning display of integrated artistry and technique, a truly flawless and exciting performance.” (Kisselgoff, The New York Times.) Ms. Kisselgoff’s review of his 1999 Don Quixote hailed his performance as “perfect, and danced in sublime harmony and with breathtaking stylistic unity.”

Mr. Beloserkovsky’s Siegfried in Ballet Theatre’s new Swan Lake also brought critical acclaim: “To see Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky step into the leading roles of Swan Lake was to see two outstanding dancers outdo themselves and enhance a 19th century classic with a splendid and mature performance.” “It is up to the principals to bring depth to the plot through their dancing. This is what Ms. Dvorovenko and Mr. Beloserkovsky did with unusual technical polish.” (The New York Times). Jennifer Dunning, reviewing Etudes in The New York Times, cited Mr. Beloserkovsky for his “forceful Russian-style attack, mixed here, characteristically, with a winning clarity of line and shape.” Equally confident in both classical and contemporary works, Mr. Beloserkovsky brings graceful dignity and elegance to his many roles.

His repertoire with ABT includes Basilio and Espada in Don Quixote, Prince Desiré and Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Siegfried in Swan Lake, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Albrecht in Giselle, Jean de Brienne in Raymonda, Oberon in The Dream, the lead in Theme and Variations, Conrad and Lankendem in Le Corsaire, Camille in The Merry Widow, Colas in La Fille Mal Gardée, Lensky in Onegin, Misgir in The Snow Maiden, James in La Sylphide, Franz in Coppélia, the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, Aminta in Sylvia, and the Prince in Cinderella. He has also danced leading roles in The Leaves are Fading, Lilac Garden, Dim Lustre, Brüch Violin Concerto, Mozartiana, Symphony in C, Symphonic Variations, Les Sylphides, Etudes, Apollo, Pas des Déesses, La Bayadère (Act II), and Variations for Four, as well as Sylvia Pas de Deux, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, and Paquita.

His athleticism and style have also earned him leading roles in important contemporary works: Twyla Tharp’s Push Comes to Shove, The Elements and The Brahams-Haydn Variations, Nacho Duato’s Without Words and Remanso, Natalie Weir’s Hereafter, Mark Morris’s Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes, Jiri Kylian’s Sinfonietta, John Neumeier’s Spring and Fall, Christian Spuck’s Le Grand Pas de Deux, Stanton Welch’s Clear, Peter Quanz’s Kaleidoscope, Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels, and Jerome Robbins’s Afternoon of a Faun. Mr. Beloserkovsky has appeared as a guest artist with numerous companies, including the Hamburg Ballet, the Finnish Ballet, the Rome Opera Ballet, Verona Ballet, the Universal Ballet, and with Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet, and has been a guest with Asami Maki and at the National Theater in Tokyo. He has also appeared in several videos and television arts programs, including the PBS broadcast of the opening of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, partnering his wife, ABT principal dancer Irina Dvorovenko, in the Swan Lake Act II Pas de Deux. He has been featured on the cover of Dance Magazine, Japanese Dance Magazine, New York Dance Fax, and Pointe, as well as in articles in People, Dancing Times, Dance Review, Gotham, Good Housekeeping, and Talk. With his polished technique and confident stage presence, Mr. Beloserkovsky easily meets the technical challenge of both the classical and contemporary repertory, making him one of American Ballet Theatre’s most versatile dancers. He and Ms. Dvorovenko are the proud parents of daughter Emma Galina, born in March 2005.

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Charles Askegard

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA), Charles began his dance training at the age of five with Loyce Houlton and the Minnesota Dance Theatre. He continued his studies in Minneapolis until the age of 16, spending one summer at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in 1983. Mr. Askegard joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in 1987, and was promoted to soloist in 1992. His repertoire while at American Ballet Theatre included leading roles in Giselle, La Bayadere, Manon, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Etudes, Voluntaries, The Rite of Spring, Symphonic Variations, Rodeo, Fall River Legend, The Other, The Red Shoes, Le Corsaire Pas de Deux, and Apollo.

In 1997, Mr. Askegard left ABT to join New York City Ballet as a soloist. He served as Principal Dancer from 1998 until 2011. In 2002, he appeared in the nationally televised Live from Lincoln Center broadcast, “New York City Ballet’s Diamond Project: Ten Years of New Choreography” on PBS, dancing in Them Twos. And in May of 2004, he appeared in the Live From Lincoln Center broadcast of “Lincoln Center Celebrates Balanchine 100,” dancing in Vienna Waltzes. In addition to his appearances with New York City Ballet, Mr. Askegard has been a guest artist with The Dutch National Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Etudes of South Florida, Bavarian State Opera Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Philippine Ballet Theatre, The Daring Project, and the Stars of American Ballet. He performed the leading roles opposite Barbie in the “Barbie” 3-D animated videos, dancing in Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and the Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Darla Hoover

Pre-Professional Division Faculty

“The quality of the training a dancer receives has an enormous impact on their future. BAE’s meticulous and comprehensive syllabus develops technically strong, expressive ballet dancers, who ultimately can adapt to any style.”

Darla Hoover was trained at the renowned Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under the direction of Marcia Dale Weary and completed her studies on a full scholarship at the School of American Ballet. In 1980, after choreographing a solo for her in the New York City Opera production of Bourgeois Gentilhomme, George Balanchine invited Ms. Hoover to become a member of his New York City Ballet. From 1980-1991, Ms. Hoover appeared as a featured soloist in ballets such as Balanchine’s La Valse, Chaconne, Harlequinade, Ballo della Regina, as well as Peter Martins’ Eight Easy Pieces, Rossini Quartets, Sonata di Scarlatti, and Jerome Robbin’s Fanfare. Upon retirement, a full schedule of guest appearances throughout the United States and Europe further expanded her repertory experience. Ms. Hoover now focuses her attentions on teaching and staging ballets, including positions as the Artistic Director of Ballet Academy East’s Pre-Professional Division in New York City, and Associate Artistic Director of Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, where she also directs a nationally recognized Teachers Workshop that instructs fellow dance educators on the syllabus and methodologies developed by Marcia Dale Weary.

Ms. Hoover guest teaches all over the world, and has been invited to share her successful techniques at distinguished companies such as Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, New National Theatre Tokyo, and Royal Danish Ballet. Working as a répétiteur, Ms. Hoover stages works for the George Balanchine Trust and for Peter Martins, Ballet Master-in-Chief of New York City Ballet. Recent stagings at major ballet companies such as the Royal Danish Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, New National Theatre Tokyo, and Dance Theatre of Harlem have included George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Raymonda Variations, La Source, Serenade, Scherzo à la Russe, Divertimento No.15, Valse Fantaisie, Concerto Barocco, Allegro Brillante, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Stars and Stripes, and Rubies, as well as Peter Martins’ Eight Easy Pieces and Fearful Symmetries. Ms. Hoover was recently invited to stage George Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia. This performance marked the first time the esteemed Academy had ever performed a work by Mr. Balanchine.